A Rebel from the Past
by TimeShard13
Summary: Takes place after season 1. Fulcrum and the crew of Ghost are shocked when a familiar man appears on board. He claims to be Anakin Skywalker, but that's impossible. Things only get more complicated when Fulcrum's past is revealed as well as her relationship to Darth Vader. Anakin works to gain their trust, while trying to figure out why the force sent him there. Time travel AU.
1. Chapter 1

To say Hera was shocked would have been an understatement. In fact, the entire crew of Ghost was stunned speechless. First, there had been bright flash of light which had momentarily blinded them. By the time their vision had returned, a young man had appeared out of nowhere and was lying on the ground of the small conference room. The outfit he was wearing could have matched something like what Kanan had described the Jedi of old wearing, if it hadn't been so black. What looked to be a standard lightsaber hung off his belt and he was most definitely unconscious. But as odd as all this was, Hera was more shocked by the reaction of the sixth person in the room. Fulcrum. In all the time Hera had known the woman, Tano had always worn a mask. Never let her emotions get the best of her. Ahsoka Tano was organizer of countless rebel cells, and unshakable leader, but now she seemed oblivious to the others in the room. Her expression somewhere between horrified and grief-stricken, as she stepped away from the fallen man.

"Fulcrum?" Hera looked at the older woman with concern. She turned to Kanan instead when she received no reply. Kanan was looking at the man with a puzzling expression as well. "Do you know him?" Hera tried again.

Kanan shook his head slowly. "I feel like I should. He's definitely a Jedi, but its been so long since," He broke off, looking back to the Jedi. "I don't know."

"Its fine and all to figure out who this guy is, but doesn't anyone else want to know how he got here? Last I checked we were still in hyperdrive!" Everyone turned to look at Ezra. Hera saw Fulcrum jerk out of her stunned silence and was relieved when she took control of the situation.

"Kanan, Zeb, we need to get him to the med bay. We can piece together what's going on after that. Interrogate him if need be, though with any luck," The togruta trailed off for a moment, stepping forward to get a better look at the man. "He may be on our side. For now at least." Her words trailed off at the end, and Hera suspected they hadn't been meant to be over heard.

Kanan and Zeb moved to gingerly pick up the possibly wounded stranger while Sabine and Ezra looked on. "You two," Hera nodded in their direction, "go make sure med bay's ready." Ezra looked almost excited as he ran out of the room, closely followed by an only slightly more subdued Sabine. Alone now, Hera stepped closer to Fulcrum.

"You know him, don't you." It wasn't a question. Fulcrum let out a long sigh, having regained most of her usual composure. "I can't think of a believable explanation as to why he's here though."

Anakin hated mad bays. Unfortunately, he seemed to end up in them quite often. Usually, though, he was able to remember what he done to end up there. This time, he couldn't think of a good reason for the life of him. The last thing Anakin remembered was going to bed. It would be hard to get hurt when asleep, even for him who was rather accident prone. Groaning, Anakin opened his eyes to look around. The first thing he noticed was that he was on a ship, which couldn't be right, because he, Ahsoka, and Obi-Wan had finished their mission and were to be on Coruscant for a few more days. Then he noticed the voices.

"You better go find Fulcrum, she won't want to miss this." The voice came from the door. Anakin couldn't see the speaker from his position but it sounded like a man. A few more hushed words were exchanged before a second person ran out of the room.

"Who's there?" Anakin's throat was dry and when he tried to sit up a steady throbbing started in his head.

"Easy." The voice from before had moved closer. Propping himself up, Anakin saw that he had been right. A man who couldn't have been too much older them himself and who was dressed in an odd assortment of green clothes and armor stood by the bed. Anakin tensed at the stranger's presence but relaxed slightly once he felt the man's force signature.

"You're a Jedi, but I don't think I've ever seen you before." That puzzled Anakin. While there were many Jedi and few were ever in the same place at the same time, it was rare for Anakin to not at least recognize a face. Especially of a Jedi who had been around as long as this man must have been. To further his confusion, the man didn't respond, only narrowed his eyes a bit and continued staring at Anakin.

The man looked towards the door suddenly and Anakin followed his gaze. A twi'lek woman had entered and from her lack of force signature Anakin knew she wasn't a Jedi. She looked more hesitant than the man but spoke with authority. "Fulcrum is still in an important meeting. With any luck she'll be here in a half hour or so." the man nodded, but Anakin was even more confused.

"Excuse me, but where exactly is this?"

The twi'lek looked at him. "You suddenly appeared on this ship, unconscious. We haven't been able to figure out how you came to be aboard. We were hoping you would be able to answer some of our questions." She paused and seemed to wait for him to say something, but Anakin knew no more than she claimed to.

"I was on Coruscant." Interestingly, the pair seemed to grow more wary of him after his comment. He continued anyway. "Who are you?"

They exchanged a glance and the man shook his head slightly. "We're trade vessel heading towards Lethal. I'm Hera Syndulla and this Kanan Jarrus. Who, may I ask, are you?"

Against his better judgement, Anakin decided to give them his real name. If not truthful, he sensed they were at least well intentioned. "Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker." To his surprise, the name didn't seem to mean anything to the the twi'lek woman, Hera. Kanan however, gave him a look of disbelief and something border lining fear.

"Excuse us a moment." He said before dragging his companion out of the room without further explanation.

Out of all the names the man could have given, Anakin Skywalker was probably one of the least expected. Once the idea was out there, however, Kanan couldn't help but think how the man really did look just like the Old Republic war hero. Granted he had only seen the man in passing, and certainly not in the past fifteen or so years, but still the similarities were unnerving.

"I'm guessing that name meant more to you than it did to me?" Hera commented once they had exited to the corridor and shut the med bay door behind them.

"Yeah, but there's no way he is who he says he is. Anakin Skywalker was a well known Jedi Knight during the Clone Wars."

Hera's eyes widened in recognition. "I know of Anakin Skywalker, the Hero With no Fear, and all that, but that man can't be a day over twenty."

"I know." Kanan ran a hand through his hair. "I'd say he's crazy but he looks like I remember. And-" He broke off, looking at Hera in alarm. "No wonder Fulcrum's reaction was so odd, if I remember right Skywalker had a padawan, and Ahsoka Tano doesn't sound wrong."

"Well, judging by Fulcrum, whatever happened to him after the fall couldn't have been good."

Kanan shook his head. "That's what bothers me. I don't know what happened. His master, Kenobi, survived, but there's been some differing rumors about what happened to Skywalker." He hesitated, not sure whether he wanted to tell Hera the next part. "The general public thinks him dead, but, from what I can piece together, from other Jedi, and the younglings at the temple being killed by a lightsaber, everything points towards him being- everyone knows Vader was a Jedi until right before order 66." Kanan trailed off, not wanting to complete the thought.

"Hopefully Fulcrum will be able to shed some light on the subject, assuming he really is a miraculously un-aged Anakin Skywalker."

"Is that who he claims to be?" The pair started at Fulcrum's voice behind them. She seemed to be bracing herself, before stepping up to the door. "Well then, there's a lot of explaining to be done."


	2. Chapter 2

When Ahsoka had first seen the man lying on the floor, she had known without a doubt that it was her master. She hadn't know how or why, but she was certain. Some how a twenty year old Anakin Skywalker had appeared on ship. She knew her reaction had unnerved Hera and her crew, but Ahsoka had never been the best as controlling her emotions and this was definitely a strange circumstance. On one hand, she was thrilled. Her Skyguy was here. The man who, despite Jedi protocol, was so much more than just a master to her. He was a father, brother, and best friend. On the other, Ahsoka was more afraid than she had ever been in her life. Not afraid of him, never afraid of him, but afraid of getting her hopes up. Loosing her master to death had been hard enough, having the truth of the matter told to her by Obi-Wan had been even worse. Through the Force she sensed that somehow this really was her master from the past, but how far in the past Ahsoka dreaded to think. He may not know her yet, or worse, he could have already turned. The one thing Ahsoka had been grateful for in all this was that she hadn't had to see her master when he still looked like himself, not a robotic monstrosity, but had already become Darth Vader.

Stepping through the doors of the med bay with Kanan and Hera close behind, Ahsoka could sense their unease. She guessed that Kanan at least suspected her master's role in all of this. Looking towards him, lying on the med bay bed like old times, Ahsoka's heart nearly stopped. She could see the surprise, then confusion in Anakin's eyes as he looked at her, but nothing else. None of the darkness that had consumed him. She was so relieved to see that this Anakin hadn't been lost yet that she almost missed what he said.

"Snips?" with that one word, all Ahsoka wanted to do was sink to the floor and cry. She hadn't heard that voice in a long long time. But she didn't. She wasn't Ahsoka the padawan anymore. She was a grown woman. She was Fulcrum, key player in the rebellion, a leader to the younger couple standing behind her. Not trusting herself to make casual chatter with her lost master, she cut to the chase.

"If you are who you claim to be, then somehow, through the will of the Force, you've been transported roughly fifteen years into your own future." Her voice softened slightly, "What's the last thing you remember?"

Anakin looked like he wanted to say something, but shook his and answered her question instead. "I went to bed. In my quarters. It was late. The three of us had just gotten called back to Coruscant to investigate some sort of bombings on the temple. After that I was here on your ship."

Ahsoka stared at her master. Before the bombings. He came from before the bombings. Her blame, her trial, her choice to leave, none of that had happened for him. It was almost too good to be true, which instantly made Ahsoka wary. This Anakin knew her, but hadn't experienced any of the horrible events that followed the bombings. She didn't know when his descent into darkness had begun, but surely it couldn't have been so soon. If she had been beside him, she would have noticed, wouldn't she?

Ahsoka turned to the two standing behind her. "As you know, this is my former master, Anakin Skywalker." She noticed Kanan tense. "He comes from a time before the fall. You should go fill the others in and make sure they haven't made a mess of anything while we were gone."

Despite his clear dismissal, Kanan seemed hesitant to leave. "Are you sure its safe?" Ahsoka sighed. The younger man had clearly made the connection between her master and Darth Vader, but she didn't want Anakin to find out. Best to start off with the basics. Her master didn't even know about the end of the Clone Wars yet. Ahsoka gave Kanan a stern glare which got the point across to Hera at least.

"Come on, Love, I'm sure Fulcrum just wants some time alone to catch up."

When the door had closed behind the human and twi'lek. Ahsoka let out a long sigh and sat at the foot of Anakin's bed, preparing herself for what she was going to tell him.

Kanan had known Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars, who hadn't? Supposedly he was the Hero With no Fear. Kanan hadn't ever seen the man in person, however. Only the glimpses he caught on the HoloNet. Sure he heard the stories, but some were so outlandish that Kanan doubted just how much of the hero was a facade put on to encourage Republic morale. Because of this, Kanan hadn't been as horrified as his master when the clones who turned on them claimed Skywalker as their new master. Over the years he had let his suspicions drop, not wanting to deal with any thoughts of his past. Fulcrum's words as she dismissed him, however, proved without a doubt that the Jedi's prodigy had been their own downfall. And now that monster was currently sitting in med bay with an unarmed Fulcrum.

"What was that about?" Hera reached for his arm and Kanan slowed his pace.

"That man is Darth Vader. The murderer of the Jedi. He slaughtered countless defenseless younglings. And we just left him with Fulcrum."

"She's stronger than she looks. And you heard her. He's clearly from a time before Vader. I'm not saying we should trust him, just don't judge him for something he hasn't done yet." Kanan smiled at the twi'lek. That was Hera. Always looking for the best in people.

"Kanan, Kanan! Has that guy woken up yet? Did he say anything? Who is he?" Kanan and Hera were pushed apart as Ezra came running into the corridor. Sabine stood in the doorway behind him. Clearly just as eager for answers as the younger boy, though more reserved about it.

"Back in and have a seat, both of you." Hera scolded. "And find Zeb and Chopper, this isn't going to be explained more than once."

"They're already in there, remember? You told us to stay put and not cause trouble." Kanan laughed at Ezra's indignant expression.

"Forgive us if we don't find that overly comforting." Sure enough, though, Zeb was already seated at the table in the middle of the room they had been in when Skywalker had appeared. Kanan sat across from the Lasat with Hera to his right. Ezra eagerly sat across from him while Sabine kept up her position leaning on the door frame.

"Well?" Ezra prompted when Kanan didn't speak.

"Well, he's awake. His name is Anakin Skywalker and he's a Jedi. From about 15 years in the past." Kanan had to stop himself from laughing at the comical expression on Ezra's face.

"I'll admit I don't know much about you Jedi and your Force, but isn't time travel a bit, impossible?" Sabine had moved from her position by the door and was now leaning over the table with the others.

Kanan shook his head. "We're just as lost as the rest of you, but that doesn't change the fact that he's here."

"So what's going to happen to him? If he's a real Jedi do you think he'd train with us? Is he going to join the Rebels?" The idea of having another Jedi around seemed to excite Ezra and smiled. It would be nice to have an actual Jedi to get advice from. Neither he nor Fulcrum had actually completed their training and there was only so much he'd be able to teach Ezra on his own. But at the moment, Skywalker still wasn't to be trusted so Kanan just shook his head.

"I really don't know Ezra."


	3. Chapter 3

**So hello everyone. I know I haven't updated in a while, but I promise I haven't completely forgotten this story. This chapter's a bit short but I hope to be updating again soon. Short disclaimer though, I have a 9 hr 5 day a week job at the moment and am going into senior year so keeping up with my fanfics gets left along the wayside a lot. Thank you to everyone who left reviews, they were really encouraging :) I'll do my best to update more frequently in the future.**

Anakin was, for once in his life, truly speechless. If his padawan sitting in front of him wasn't currently older than him, he probably wouldn't believe a thing she had said. Apparently, he was in the future. A future where not only had the Separatists been destroyed, but the Republic as well. A Galactic Empire was now in charge and had murdered all the Jedi. If that wasn't bad enough, the whole thing had been engineered by none other than his old confidant, Chancellor Palpatine and carried out by the Jedi's own clone troops.

"I'm sorry."

Ahsoka's apology was the last straw. Anakin started laughing and was only encouraged by Ahsoka's astonished expression.

"You really haven't changed too much, Snips. You lived through the destruction of the Jedi and you're apologizing to me for the state things are in." Anakin shook his head and leaned back against wall, smile fading. "Who's left?"

He knew he wouldn't like the answer, but quickly masked flicker of emotion on his padawan's face worried him. She seemed reluctant to speak. "Ahsoka, please."

She took a deep breath and looked him in the eye. "The only Jedi I know for sure are alive are Kanan and I. And a force sensitive street rat boy he picked up along the way. He's a padawan of sorts, but I wouldn't really count him as a Jedi."

Anakin was still confused about the other Jedi. "He must have been a padawan during the clone wars, old enough to be out fighting, but he doesn't seem familiar."

Ahsoka didn't seem surprised by that. "I didn't recognize him at first either, until he explained who he was. Kanan's just a fake name he took when he went into hiding. He's Caleb Dume, Master Billaba's apprentice. They spent a lot of time away from Coruscant as well, so I hadn't seen him since we were younglings. He didn't say much but I guess his master sacrificed herself to that Kanan could escape from the clones. Apparently his new crew ran into Master Luminara's ghost. Her body's being used by the Imps to lure in Jedi."

Anakin snorted, angry. How could such monsters have taken control of the galaxy? "Do you know what happened to Obi-Wan?" He honestly wasn't sure he wanted an answer, but knew he had to ask anyway.

Ahsoka gave him a small smile. "He made it out of the initial Order 66 attack alright. He was on a mission in Utapau at the time, killing Grievous. He even managed to send out warning messages telling any remaining Jedi to go into hiding and stay away from the Temple as the Imps were using it as a trap. None of us have heard from him since, but with any luck he just took his own advice."

Anakin was relieved by what Ahsoka had said, even if it wasn't much to go on. He was about to ask what there was to eat on the ship when he noticed a nervous sense of dread coming from her. His eyes narrowed. "What aren't you telling me, Snips?" He froze as he noticed a gap in her story. "Where were you and I in all this. Shouldn't we have been with my Master?" Anakin hesitated when he realized something worse. "Why am I not with you now?"

Ahsoka had known that her master would start questioning her eventually, but she wasn't ready to face him yet. Should she tell him the truth? That he had been part of the reason thing had turned out this way? That he was the evil sith the rebels were currently fighting against. No. She knew she should, she knew that Anakin would be upset if he found out from anyone else, but Ahsoka didn't think either of them would be able to handle that conversation just now. She had just gotten him back. No point in ruining the moment so soon.

That left her with about five seconds to come up with a plausible lie. Which turned out to be quite easy, actually, considering most of the world was living under the impressing that Anakin Skywalker was dead. Ahsoka let out a long breath. "You died. During Order 66." Trying not to relive painful memories, she continued her lie. "You know what you can be like. To focused on trying to save everyone else." Anakin didn't smile. "There were too many enemies and everyone was in shock. Very few of us managed to get away."

She looked at her master, shaking his head in shock. "I just can't believe…" He trailed off. "Why did Obi-Wan go off alone?" Ahsoka decided partial truths would be the best way to go. "Palpatine wanted to keep you close where he could watch you." She was having a harder time keeping her voice steady now and Anakin must have noticed.

"Well, where would one go to get some food on this ship? I'm starving. And don't say you'll bring it to me." Ahsoka smiled. He was just like she remembered.

"I know, I know," She placated. "Even five minutes is too long for you stand a med bay." She stood and Anakin went to do the same. "Careful." She admonished when he failed to hide a wince of pain.

"Sheesh Snips, you're turning into an old grandmother. I just have a little headache."

"Hey," She teased, "watch who you're calling old." It was amazing how after everything, it had only taken a few minutes for her to fall back into habits. For some reason that thought killed her good mood. She turned to the door. "C'mon, I'm sure the others are anxious to meet you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello. So I haven't disappeared yet. I apologize for the very long gaps between updates and I can't promise they'll get any better, but I haven't dropped the story and I have no intention of doing so. Thank you so much to every one who's reviewed! This chapter's a bit short, but the story should pick up a bit after this. Enjoy :) **

CHAPTER 4

A lot of the time, Anakin was very much a people person. He had the charisma, the natural leadership, the easy humor. Some times though, he most definitely was not. For example, when sitting at a table surrounded by his no-longer-padawan, a sort-of-jedi knight who seemed to dislike him, an unknown twi'lek and lasat, and a couple of teenagers.

The twi'lek passed Anakin a bowl of something and then did the same for Ahsoka. "Well," She began slowly. "You clearly know Fulcrum already. And you've met Kanan and I briefly." Anakin nodded and she continued. "Well, I'm the captain of this ship. Fulcrum's staying with us for a while and the rest are my crew mates." She pointed to them in turn. "Zeb, Sabine, and Ezra."

"So you're a real Jedi knight, right?" Ezra asked as soon as Hera had introduced him. Anakin laughed at the look of awe on the boy's face and the tension in the room faded.

"I wasn't aware that Kanan and Fulcrum here were fakes." Ezra smirked at that. Anakin felt odd not using Ahsoka's real name but he understood her need for secrecy. "So you must be the new padawan mine's told me so much about."

Anakin smiled as the kid swelled at the compliment. "Well it's kind of hard to act like an actual padawan what with the Imps around and everything, but Kanan's been teaching me. I even made my own lightsaber too. Look." Anakin took the proffered saber, mildly confused. Once he had had look though, he was impressed. Ezra had clearly spent a lot of time and care on the unorthodox weapon.

"It's good." Anakin said, handing it back.

A snort from the other side of the table caught his attention. "Well I should hope so. He's obsessed with the thing." The girl in the Mandalorian armer rolled her eyes.

"You're more of a blaster person I take it?" Nodding to the weapons at her waist.

"No," The girl said, "I'm more of an art person, thanks."

That got a chuckle out of everyone, including Hera's withdrawn companion. "Careful," Ahsoka told Sabine, "Or he'll start calling you Snips."

From there the meal went rather well, Anakin thought. Ahsoka had picked decent company and they all seemed to be warming up to him. Especially Ezra. Anakin was a bit overwhelmed with how many questions he had, but couldn't bring himself to tell the kid off. There weren't many people left who knew of the Jedi any more. That thought was so unbelievable that Anakin still wasn't entirely sure he wasn't dreaming.

"So can you start training with us tomorrow?" Anakin wanted to say yes, but felt he better check with the boy's actual instructor first. The man looked reluctant and it was Hera who spoke first.

"We're on a mission, we don't have time to land some where so you can train and I won't have you accidentally destroying my ship from the inside out like last time." Though she spoke with a joking tone, Anakin could tell that the captain was serious.

"I'm sure they'll be plenty of time after this mission." Anakin reassured him, then turned to Hera. "And what sort of mission would this be? I can help."

"Sure you can." Ahsoka looked amused. "It's a stealth mission Master."

"What?" Anakin pretended to look offended. "I can do stealth!"

"If by stealth you mean charging in with your lightsaber swinging then, yes. You are excellent at stealth."

"Fine," Anakin grumbled. "But that still doesn't answer the question of what we're trying to accomplish."

Ahsoka nodded at Hera, who began explaining.

"Right, well it's a pirating mission of sorts. An imperial ship is transporting supplies that Fulcrum needs for the rebellion. Normally it's something we could easily do alone, but we've got intel that the supply run is just a cover and that their main cargo is information."

Ahsoka nodded. "It might be a dead end lead, but we need to know what the Empire is up to so even the slightest bit of information can help. Your lucky you showed up when you did. I only boarded the Ghost a few hours before you showed up." She looked between Anakin and the crew of the Ghost for a moment. "Anakin, you'll go with Kanan's team to get the supplies. Just Chopper and I will go for the information. We'll be less likely to be caught that way. Hera will stay with the ship and be our look out. Sound good?"

Everyone nodded their consent, but Anakin noticed that Kanan seemed reluctant.

"Great. Then everyone rest up, the cargo ship should be passing our coordinates in three hours."


End file.
